Like last year, Lexus’ booth was outside by the proving grounds, and the roar of the Bondurant Corvettes was audible over the tunes the DJ was playing. There was a definite attempt to give the space a club vibe, which was compromised slightly by the fact that the turntables didn’t have heads on them, and the cocktails were actually mocktails, but whatever. There was a grip of customized IS-Cs—including Brian Fox’s hyper-green example—on hand this year, but the red-hot LF-A was the star of the show. The matte black doesn’t photograph particularly well, but in person, it looked sick. The styling in the front is somewhat restrained, which makes the aggressive lines of its hind-quarters look even better. Hit the jump to see more shots of the new supercar, along with the pics of some fresh creations from Brian Fox, David Huang, Gordon Ting, Clark Ishihara and David Rahemi, and TRD.

Continue reading "All Up In Their Booth: Lexus at SEMA 2009" »

As you might imagine, everyone who’s anyone in the automotive industry was at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas last week. While many pessimists have complained that this year’s show was smaller than any other SEMA in recent years, there were quite a few notable announcements, releases and debuts this year. (And those who did show up to the show were serious about doing business, not just a bunch of useless tire kickers.)

While there was much on the news front in terms of debuts, to be honest, there was nothing that excited me personally more than the new Lexus LF-A. I might be a bit jaded, as I am a Toyota man. My first car was a Toyota, and I’ve owned many many different types of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in my life; I’ve lost count of the actual number, but if you figure that I currently own 6 Toyota/Lexus vehicles, then I’m pretty sure the total number is somewhere around twenty. Yup, TWENTY! So maybe I do have a slight personal slant towards the Lexus brand, but regardless, I think the new LF-A that Lexus debuted at SEMA is nothing short of amazing.

Sure, there are skeptics out there who complain that the LF-A hasn’t yet beat an R35 Nissan GT-R’s record at the Nurburgring. There are also people out there who also say there are a lot of other cars they would rather buy for the LF-A’s hefty $375K price tag. Sure it’s pricey. And yes, maybe the R35 GTR can currently beat it around Nordschleife. However, in my mind, there’s just no denying how outstandingly bad ass the LF-A is. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

LFingA is right…having just returned from SEMA and seeing a production version LF-A in the flesh I am impressed all over again. I’ve seen a couple of LF-As in the flesh leading up to this, there was a nice red concept version at Toyota Megaweb in Japan that I molested, and then there was the Nurburgring race car at Tokyo Auto Salon last year. Yet something was different about seeing this production LF-A at SEMA.

First off, it looks F-R-E-S-H in matte black. As much as I think everyone wants to say matte black has jumped the shark as a color, it still looks damn good and I don’t think its going away anytime soon.

Continue reading "LFingA" »

I caught up with Brian over at the Lexus booth. Wow, that green BASF paint really pops in the sun. More pics and a short video of Brian talking about his Lexus IF C build after the jump!

Continue reading "Brian Fox at SEMA" »

I was in the Las Vegas Convention Center very early this morning wandering the halls to try and find undiscovered treasures hidden within the excesses of SEMA. Take a look at this one, a Lexus LX 570 competing in the SCORE Stock Full Class, piloted by Joe Bacal who is a Cancer Survivor sitting at the KC HiLiGHTS Booth. Read more after the jump!

Continue reading "Something Unexpected: A Lexus LX 570 SCORE Offroad Contender" »

Clambering over mounds of insane car nuts, I scampered for the doors to SEMA. Elbow clocking, crotch kicking, upper cut chucking. It was a nasty scene. BUT, I managed to get in with only a broken collar bone and a head gash. Only 4 inches long right through the left eye. But don’t worry. I’m ok.

And what did my good eye perceive? … Camaros. Ug. So, while everyone’s posting Camaros, I’ll post other stuff. Like this! My hotel.

Continue reading "Fireball SEMA Day 1! It’s Open!!!!" »

Here’s the wild Lexus IS C that Brian is bringing to SEMA this year. Be sure to check out his ride page for the specs and build pics, and of course we’ll have more on this car next week at the show!

Here’s some video of the LF-A in advance of the official unveil later today at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Falken Tire just built ride pages for all of their drift cars. How cool is that? My favorites are Vaughn Gittin Jr’s Mustang and Daijiro Yoshihara’s burly Lexus. Check out all five ride pages!

The BMW E92 M3 and the Lexus IS-F are both shining examples of sports-minded luxury cars. They both project an image of luxury and refinement, combined with engine response and handling suitable for the racetrack.

Not too long ago, I did a shoot with an E92 M3 and an IS-F that were both outfitted with a plethora of aftermarket parts from a luxury sports brand called Vorsteiner. When I was first introduced to the team over at Vorsteiner, it was to photograph their Porsche V-GT project for Modified Luxury and Exotics Magazine back in 2007. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

I’m sure many of you have been waiting for my photos and stories from Formula D Seattle, so I apologize to our readers for uploading these kind of late. It’s been a pretty hectic weekend. There was plenty of drama at Formula D on Saturday, and I apparently added to it by pissing off the Formula D safety steward while grabbing a quick shot of Dai Yoshihara’s smashed Lexus IS350 as it was getting loaded up onto a tow truck and pulled off the track.
It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, the Formula D/SCCA guy Randy Hembrey got pissed off at me and pulled my hard card on Saturday (competition day), which allows me to get track access for shooting photos. This was definitely a problem, as I was expected to produce good images that weekend (I was shooting the event for clients, who helped pay my way to get up to Seattle). I had a hell of a time trying to get photos for the rest of the day, especially without access to the hot areas, but I still managed to get some photos somehow. So here it is… Formula D Seattle through my eyes. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

Wanna see what Brian is building for SEMA this year? Then head over to his Lexus IS350C ride page and find out!

Many of us dream (with me pleading guilty on all counts) of one day owning a Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Pagani, Lamborghini, or Bugatti. But, if you think realistically, a whole many of us, will never own a real luxury car or a real exotic, supercar or hypercar. All that exquisite luxury, with a seemingly infinite amount of power, soul, and passion comes at a terrible price –quite literally, at that.

Enter Ernie. Like many of us, Ernie would love to own a super car, hyper car, mid-life crisis car, but he’s come to the realization that, really, it is almost impossible. He’s a guy that has worked on and built countless amounts of race and show cars (mostly SC400s). He’s seen much soul and passion in his days, but he’s never actually been able to possess such qualities in a car that is his very own. This car is Ernie’s dream car. It embodies his passion and love he has for his favorite car, the Lexus SC400 (or Toyota Soarer for you super car nerds out there). Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Linhbergh Nguyen

Keith Buglewicz of Automotive Traveler just concluded a review of the new Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Sedan, testing the car in and around Newport Beach, California. Newport Beach is perhaps the perfect place to introduce the 2010 Lexus HS 250h, the company’s first hybrid-only vehicle. After all, the coastal town combines the two qualities that Lexus itself hopes to blend with its new car. It is, of course, an extremely affluent area, with housing prices often well into seven digits or higher. Yet since this is California, it also has an environmentally friendly bent; you could practically walk on Toyota Prius roofs from Crystal Cove to Balboa Island. It is those Prius drivers that Lexus hopes to tempt with its new hybrid. The HS 250h will offer a hybrid drivetrain and fuel economy superior to any other Lexus–and virtually every other luxury car of this size–but in a uniquely styled package that will make more of a statement than a hybrid version of one of the company’s other cars will make.

If you want to read his conclusions on this Lexus hybrid, continue reading at Automotive Traveler.

Continue reading "First Drive: 2010 Lexus HS 250h" »

Although we’re known for representing high end Japanese sports car tuning, often people don’t realize that we also deal a lot with VIP tuning. Unfortunately the VIP tuning scene in the US didn’t take off like I had hoped it would years ago so we never really got a chance to flex our VIP muscle with our deep contacts in Japan within the scene. Nonetheless there are still some really cool VIP cars roaming the streets, some of which we’ve had a hand in.

I’d like to introduce a super clean Lexus LS430 built by Vinh out in Texas. Vinh came to us to take advantage of our VIP connections in Japan for his project idea. The end result is a LS430 rocking Trafficstar STR wheels in a super aggressive size, an Insurance Group roof spoiler and a G-Answer full aero kit (half type).

I think for a daily street cruiser Vinh came up with a winning combination with class, luxury and a unique JDM VIP image.